Tradition of Love
by ariolfo101
Summary: All the times Fire Lord Zuko defied Fire Nation tradition for the people he loved.
1. Chapter 1

Traditions of Love

"Please, my Lord, hear me on the subject of your chosen Fire Lady." Groveled one of Fire Lord Zuko's ministers. The recently engaged young man shook his head free from his lover's daydream and looked to the plump old minister who was significantly less pleasant to the eyes than the woman he had been thinking about.

"Yes, Governor Yinzo, what do you have to say about my fiancée?"

"My Lord," began the elderly politician "Undoubtedly you have been endowed with great wisdom, and of course, any woman that you would even consider marrying would be graced with all virtues. But there is the very serious matter of the Lady Mai's family's infamous health, shall we say…"

"What do you mean? " said Zuko, his voice tinged with concern.

"Of course, there is no reason for the Fire Lord to relinquish his chosen bride if he does not wish to, but perhaps he would consider a few concubines to produce his heirs, as the Lady's family is well known for miscarriage."

"Concubines" said Fire Lord Zuko, slowly.

"For strictly political purposes, my Lord."

The throne room fell dead silent.

"You want me to betray the woman I love, ruin the futures of innocent Fire Nation girls, and pollute my love for POLITICAL PURPOSES?!" half- roared the enraged man, his eyes blazing with disgust.

"It is tradition my Lord." Quavered the prostrate politician.

"Get out." Ordered the Fire Lord.

Governor Yinzo got out.

The midwives could not be sure when labor had started. Mai, being Mai, had kept a perfectly straight face when her contractions began during a meeting discussing a trade treaty. It was not until the last minister had taken his leave, when the Fire Lady's face went perfectly white and she had coolly told her husband to get her to a healer before she pinned him to the wall with her knives. But her voice shook ever so slightly with fear, and the Fire Lord had raised the hue and cry, yelling at the royal guards and clutching the marble cold hand relentlessly in his own oven hot one. The Zuko's grip had been the only thing keeping Mai remotely sane in the ocean of pain, but went a healer tore it off and tugged her into a separate room, Mai lost her cool, and screamed as the pains tore through her.

"What are you doing to her in there?" demanded the frantic father, grappling with a nurse in a crimson robe.

"It is against tradition to let anyone into the Fire Lady's chamber!" The nurse shouted back. "The Fire Lord must wait here!"

A shriek, sharp as a knife, slashed through the walls. At that, Zuko shoved his way into the secluded chamber and flat out refused to leave.

Zuko was the first Fire Lord to see his child's birth.

"Izumi." The scarred man whispered to the raw pink bundle in his arms, chanting it like a prayer. "Izumi, my Izumi. My little turtleduck."

"My Lord, it is a girl." Muttered the Fire Sage dubiously. "I shall prepare the pyre for the Offering to Agni ceremony."

"Yes, offer him much incense to thank him for the safe delivery of my daughter." Ordered the enamored new father, his eyes not stirring from his newborn's face.

"Fire Lord, we will offer the girl child to Agni by fire in exchange for a Fire Prince."

The Fire Lord gazed at the tiny girl nestling in his arms, uncomprehending. "Little turtleduck." He whispered again.

"Fire Lord, the mistake will be offered back to Agni on the pyre so he will send you your true son and heir."

Zuko froze.

"Fire Lord." Snapped the sage "You did not think it a mere _coincidence_ that all the recorded firstborns of _all_ Fire Lords were _male?!_ "

A miniature pink hand reached up to fearlessly touch the red scar that blazed protectively above her.

The sage's hands reached out for the child.

"My Lord, it is tradition."

"Reverse the edict." Ordered the Fire Lord.

"A thousand generations…!"

"DO IT NOW!"

Both father and baby began to cry.

"My Lord, I have come to report on the crown Princess Izumi's progress."

Fire Lord Zuko Lord Zuko glanced up from his reports to look at his daughter's grizzled Fire bending instructor.

"Very well, begin."

"Fire Lord, Princess Izumi is a failure at firebending and not fit to be our future Fire Lord. I recommend traditional immediate banishment for weakness and disgrace to the royal line."

The Fire Lord glared at the man.

"Have you forgotten WHO you're talking to?"

The bender was silent.

"I would rather burn the rest of my face off."


	2. Chapter 2

Firelord Zuko was cursing himself over and over again in his choice of his daughter's personal guard, as he walked down to the meeting room to advocate for another bend of Fire Nation tradition. Normally, he had n problem with uprooting backward beliefs, but the reason he was doing this was not at all appealing to himself. He walked into a room full of stern faced Fire Sages and Governors, and immediately went back to mentally cursing his choice of royal guard to the princess.

It had seemed like a good choice at the time, a perfectly safe choice. No hired guard could be completely trusted and when Sokka had mentioned his son needed an opportunity to prove himself a Kyoshi warrior, Zuko had seen the answer to his prayers for Izumi's safety. A highly skilled Kyoshi warrior, more than competent in chi-blocking, hand-to-hand combat, and swordsmanship, whose entire history he knew personally, who had no ulterior political motives and absolutely no connections to Azula or Ozai. What better guard could the Firelord ask for? Sokka and Suki and their son Hakoda also happened to be family friends and from what Zuko had seen of the pair's interactions as children, the two children got along very well. So 'Koda,as the families called him, became the first male Kyoshi warrior and personal guard to Crown Princess Izumi. And all had been well.

He hadn't counted on the fact that the boy would fall in love with her.

Apparently, it had been going on for quite some time. Years in fact. Of course, through the interference of his wife, Zuko hadn't found out about it until 'Koda, blushing so hard it could be seen through his warrior's make-up, had abruptly asked him if he could marry his daughter. Zuko had laughed and dismissed him, and any thoughts that his little turtleduck (So what if she was twenty- four, she was STILL his little turtleduck!) could possibly be marrying anybody. But when he had shared the day's joke with his wife, Mai had smiled sly at his disbelieving snickers and coolly pulled from one of her drawers at least twelve Kyoshi warrior fans, all with cheesy pick-up lines and clique quotes written on the backs.

"I confiscate then when they get too overused." She remarked as her husband thumbed frantically through the fans, hoping against hope there had been some mistake.

"She's certainly your daughter, in the fact that she likes all those sappy lines. She certainly didn't get that from me. I just kissed you to get you to shut up. She lets him keep going and flushes all the while."

Izumi didn't blush when a servant had accidentally poured tea on her robe during a very important meeting! This was bad, this was very, very bad.

"Why?" asked Mai, questioning the words he hadn't known he had spoken aloud.

Zuko spluttered out something that was a mix of "She's too young!" and "I don't want her to!".

Mai grasped his chin and pulled his scar to face her. "Number one, YOU hardly ought to be talking. You were practically PANTING to marry me at eighteen. And two, Izumi has told me that she would have married Hakoda YEARS ago if she hadn't thought of you. You and the nation."

Zuko froze, registering the implications of his daughter's chosen love, not only on himself, losing his only child, but on the Fire Nation. The people who would in no doubt be incensed at the mingling of blood, Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom blood, in the royal line of the country.

"Zuko, think!" said Mai sharply. "If Izumi doesn't marry Hakoda, who will she? It's not exactly like she can stay single. Can you imagine her married to one of those slimy suitors, slobbering over her crown, not caring for her at all? Is that what you want?"

"No" Zuko thought to the hordes of young power hunters he had fended off for years.

"NO." said the Firelord above the chattering of the enraged Fire Sages.

"We will not allow the mixing of mongrel blood in a traditionally pure line we have guarded for centuries!" shrieked a Governor.

"I am Firelord!" shouted Zuko above the throng, waving his hand for silence. " And Izumi is your Crown Princess. She will rule after me if she weds earthbender, firebender, non-bender, or the Avatar himself!"

The babble began again, but the Firelord ordered "Meeting adjourned!" and left the room.

He was going to his private chambers to mope.

"Thanks Dad." Said a familiar voice, emerging from her vantage point behind a curtain.

Izumi. His daughter. His gorgeous, grown-up, engaged, ready to rule the entire Fire Nation daughter.

"Do you have to go, turtleduck?" he asked, sounding like a little kid.

"I'll still be living in the palace, Dad."

"But you won't be my turtleduck anymore." He whispered, as he wrapped her in a hug.

"I'll always be your turtleduck." She whispered back.

 _So sorry I haven't done anything in a while. I will begin updating everything again. Please review. I personally am really proud of this story so PLEASE, please, REVIEW!_


	3. Important Notice!

Hi everyone! Sorry , but I will not be able to update for at least two weeks. Please be patient and bear with these annoying delays. I will still be able to read any feedback you send and garner ideas, I just cannot actively write. But you can still REVIEW! And I will listen to your every word!

P.S. Bu the way, my Miraculous Ladybug fic "Of Our Misfortunes" hasn't got any reviews, good or bad. I'm not asking you to like all my stories, but your opinions matter to me and I need to hear them. If you think it sucks, tell me why.

Thank you all!

\- Ariolfo


	4. FINAL CHAPTER

_Sorry this took so long! Writer's block and real life interfered. Enjoy!_

It had been a stunning blow. Shocking, like a bolt from the blue. And Fire Lord Zuko gazed numbly at the smoking aftermath.

He had been making him way to the royal nursery, to give his five-year old grandson his first dagger. It was the very one his Uncle Iroh had given to him, and now he was bestowing it on Iroh's namesake. A few tears came to his eyes at the thought of his uncle, now passed, but he blinked them away as he turned down the corridor leading to the child's room.

Then he heard the thunder.

It was a noise that accompanied his nightmares of a madwoman with blue fire. Rushing toward the sickening smell of ozone, he ran through the destroyed door to the nursery, only to stop short at the sight of a charred Kyoshi warrior, his fans still burning away in his dead fists.

 _Hakoda._ His mind spoke the name. The warrior who conquered his daughter's heart, dead. Oh, Izumi.

A cackle interrupted his thoughts. Looking up, what he saw was seared into his mind, the pain blocking out the sounds of guards running up the hallway toward them.

There she was, her hair gray-white, grayer than his, though he had been older. Her eyes were cold, conniving, and burned with mad triumph. One hand was fisted in a thick head of white streaked black hair, pulling at the bangs to reveal a white, slender throat, to which was held a steady blue flame.

Mai.

Wrapped in the long sleeves of the Fire Lady's robe was Iroh, his little black head pressed to his grandmother's heart, hiding from the light of the blue flame.

The guards had arrived at the door, freezing at the sight of the most feared criminal in all the Fire Nation.

"Well, Zuzu, that's no way to greet a Firelord. Didn't anyone teach you any manners?"

"Azula."

"Yes, I know, this was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping to find my niece. You never did introduce us,,Zuzu. But it's just as well. Mothers do become rather dramatic when it comes to their sons, and from what I've heard, she would have been particularly fiery."

"But she's too much like you, Zuzu. Once she finds her true love and son dead, she'll never have another heir again. And I doubt you'll last too long without Mai. So, in the end, I'm Firelord."

She smiled cruelly, making the flame at Mai's neck glow white-hot. "However, as Fire Lord, I may be merciful if I am given the proper respect tradition demands. So, what are you waiting for, Zuzu? Bow."

Fire Lord Zuko didn't hesitate a moment.

To the gasps and grunts of the shocked guards, the ruler of the Fire Nation broke sacred tradition, and knelt, head to the floor. He could almost FEEL Azula smirk in triumph.

"Too late."

It all happened with the speed of a lightning strike.

Zuko tossed the pearl dagger to Mai, while Mai shoved little Iroh out of danger and into his grandfather's arms. Azula brought the flame down on Mai's neck, while in the same moment, Mai shoved the dagger into Azula's.

The flame guttered and died with its mistress' breath. Mai turned her eyes to Zuko's, the slit on her neck still smoldering, and calmly handed him the bloodied dagger.

"Never give up without a fight, huh." she whispered, smiling fondly. "Zuko, you and your cheesy cliques."

He reached for her hand.

Mai smirked at him. "What's next? 'I love Mai more than I fear you.' Oh wait, that's my line."

He went through the next week in daze, like a warrior so used to fighting he didn't bother to think through his moves. Plowing through obstructions, he set in order what had to be done, fighting the good fight. No, Azula, though of royal blood, would not be buried in the Royal Cemetery. Yes, Hakoda, of mixed Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom origin, would have a place in the Garden of Tranquil Souls. No, Mai would not be cremated. She had always hated the idea. Tradition after tradition had to be torn down and buried to lay the dead to rest.

Azula had told him he wouldn't last long without Mai by his side. For once she hadn't lied.

His hair was graying, streaked with white. His gait was stiffer, his fire not as bright.

He was reaching the end of his reign.

And as he stood before the people to give his final, farewell speech, he turned to his daughter.

"Do you feel you can handle this, Izumi."

Her hair, gray with the shock, had been pulled back into a traditional topknot. The Crown Princess nodded.

"I'll do it. For Iroh and for my people." She turned to the Fire Lord, her father. "And for you."

"Well," Fire Lord stepped in front of his subjects for the last time, then motioned for a shocked Fire Sage to remove his crown and place it on his daughter. He then turned to the crowd and began to speak.

"It is time to break tradition."

 _THE END._

This is my first major completed Fanfiction. I shall give a bow and a sigh of relief.

-ARIOLFO


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